Jim vs. Deadlifts, Running, Kettlebell Swings, and KTEs

Started my day with some deadlifts, and I dare you to think of a better way.

215 x 5
245 x 5
280 x 5

This is the first time since I started doing 5-3-1 that I haven’t been able to go past the minimum mandate on a final set. It’ll be interesting to see how my three-rep deadlift workout goes in a couple of weeks. But until then, there are always more metcons!

Three rounds for time of:
Run 400m
18 kettlebell swings (50# dumbbell for me)
9 knees-to-elbows

Finished this in 11:50. I can do better, but I’m glad to be doing it at all. And the KTEs felt good.

Jim vs. Shoulder Press, Muscle-ups

Good day today.

Shoulder press
85 x 5
100 x 5
110 x 7

Muscle-ups (from knees) x 30, 6:03.

Sun’s out, and I’m not gonna get tired of that anytime soon.

Jim vs. Clean & Jerks, and The Bends

Today my first modification to 5-3-1 came into effect: I subbed in clean & jerks for bench press.

Clean & Jerk
95 x 5
110 x 5
120 x 7

Like back squats, I didn’t truly push to failure on that last set. Luckily for failure, it didn’t need to wait long to find me.

“The Bends”
105lb thrusters x 10
75lb thrusters x 20
45lb thrusters x 40
air squats x 80

Last time I did this, I used lighter weights, but finished in under six minutes. This time I bumped up the weights, and couldn’t get it done before the ten minute cut-off I’d set; I got through all the thrusters plus 28 squats. Maybe it was the extra weight, maybe it was doing this after the C&Js instead of on its own, or maybe I’ve just lost some conditioning since September. Probably a combination of all three. Still, it felt good to push myself, and I had to on this one (even with the cut-off).

Jim vs. Back Squats

Today was definitely less aggravating that last week. Got started on the first part of my modified 5-3-1 with some back squats.

155 x 5
180 x 5
205 x 6

My left quad felt odd up through my first set, and then got that way again afterwards. I felt solid on the last set, but then just decided to do a light jog to ease up the muscles a bit.

Back squats are an odd exercise for me in terms of pushing to failure; I’m not really comfortable with dumping the weight from the back squat position, so I usually just stop after a tough success. I really need to practice getting out from under the load — the racks at Teagle have special, adjustable arms for just such an occasion — so that I can start getting some more accurate results on this exercise.

Jim vs. Shoulder Press, Deadlifts

How could this week get more annoying? How about starting my workout by losing my ID card under a bolted-down Olympic rack.

Cripes.

Also did my deloading sets for shoulder press (50, 65, 75) and deadlifts (130, 160, 190). And then left, ID-less and glad the week was done.

Jim vs. Rowing, Bench Press

Unsatisfying day.

Crappy hours persist, so I started out upstairs. After some warming up, I did a 1k row in 4:31, which isn’t terribly shameful. Then the gym downstairs opened, and I did my deloading week for bench press.

75 x 5
95 x 5
115 x 5

Honestly, it just felt like a joke. Maybe it was the loads that always felt light, but I did not fall back in love with the bench press during this 5-3-1 experiment. If I work 5-3-1 into my rotation, I’m probably going to replace bench press with clean and jerk.

I would characterize today’s workout as, “Better than nothing.” Tomorrow will be a rest day, so I can see if that characterization is accurate.

Jim vs. Crappy Gym Hours (also Running, Turkish Get Ups, and Back Squats)

Apparently, the Teagle Downstairs gym doesn’t open until 11am this week, which means no access to Olympic racks until then. This was an annoying thing to discover at 10:30, especially as it’s not indicated on their website. Luckily, this is the “deloading” week of 5-3-1, so I felt OK saving my squats until last, and working on stuff in the upstairs gym.

First thing was running: I did a mile in 9:36. First off, I hate treadmills. Secondly, I’ve lost some running skills this winter. Put the two together, and I’m glad the weather’s getting warmer. After the running, I did some Turkish get-ups:

25 x 3 (each side)
30 x 2 (each side)
35 x 1 (each side)

After that the downstairs gym was open, and I did my back squats. The deloading week means much lighter loads, and I can’t say as I didn’t appreciate that a little.

95 x 5
120 x 5
145 x 5

Now I need to figure out how to make my workout schedule for the rest of the week fit with the times the gym’s actually open.

Jim vs. Shoulder Press, Running

Wrapped up the 5-3-1 week with some shoulder press.

95 x 5
105 x 3
120 x 4

This felt really, really good. I like how 5-3-1 keeps the CFT workouts in my rotation, and that’s definitely something I’ll be keeping moving forward. I wrapped up with 10 minutes of untimed running, and discovered that when I don’t time myself I run really, really slowly. So, I won’t be doing that much anymore.

Jim vs. Deadlifts, Sit-ups, Back Extensions

Another problem with the 5-3-1: when you do the same exercises week after week, the opportunities for pithy commentary start to dry up.

Deadlifts
240 x 5
270 x 3
305 x 3

The third rep at 305 was ugly, but it went up. Interspersed with the above, I did 7 x 14 of both AbMat sit-ups and back extensions.

Jim vs. Bench Press, Grace

OK, if I decide to keep doing bench press as part of the 5-3-1, I need to ramp up the weight a lot more the next go-round.

140 x 5
155 x 3
175 x 6

Don’t get me wrong, that last set felt good — heck, if my spotter hadn’t touched the bar early, I might’ve had a seventh rep in me — but getting six reps for a weight that’s supposed to be “max reps, one minimum”? That just says my loads were too low, which I admittedly suspected.

So, I decided to challenge myself.

“Grace”
115lb clean and jerk x 30

I did this in about eight minutes. (I was timing it with my phone, and got a text message mid-way through that turned off the stopwatch function. But I started at 11:04 and ended at 11:12.) That’s about two minutes longer than last time, but using 20lbs more. For whatever reason, I’m OK with that. But I’m discovering that I’m not OK with only getting to do Olympic lifts during metcons. More on that later this week.